Method and apparatus for providing enhanced communication capability for mobile devices on a virtual private network

ABSTRACT

A communication system has a cellular telephony interface in individual ones of two or more mobile vehicles, a position determination system in individual ones of the mobile vehicles, a network of cellular base stations coupled to the mobile vehicles, individual base stations coupled to one or both of a packet-switched or a line-switched telephony system, a router coupled to the base stations and enabled to retrieve GPS position from the telephony events, and a plurality of service centers coupled to one or both of the telephony systems. Telephony events from individual ones of the mobile vehicles are routed according to position reported by the position determination system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present case is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/749,705,filed May 16, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,561,887, which is a continuationof application Ser. No. 11/286,811, filed Nov. 22, 2005 and issued asU.S. Pat. No. 7,263,372 on Aug. 28, 2007. Application Ser. No.11/286,811 is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/323,450, filedDec. 17, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,987,977, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 09/452,768, filed Dec. 1, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,496,702. The entire disclosure of each of these applications isincorporated herein by reference, and priority is claimed to the filingdate for the disclosure of each of these applications, including Dec. 1,1999 of application Ser. No. 09/452,768.

The entire disclosure of copending application Ser. No. 11/456,796 isincorporated herein by reference. Application Ser. No. 11/456,796 is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 10/899,528, now U.S. Pat. No.7,079,641, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/912,770,filed Jul. 24, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,779. The entire disclosureof each of these applications is incorporated herein by reference, andpriority is claimed to the filing date for the first disclosure of eachof these applications, including Jul. 24, 2001 of application Ser. No.09/912,770.

The entire disclosure of copending application Ser. No. 11/388,089 isincorporated herein by reference. Application Ser. No. 11/388,089 is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 09/661,181, now U.S. Pat. No.7,020,264, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/443,057,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,360, which is a continuation of application Ser.No. 08/968,825, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,931, which is acontinuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/869,815, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,148,074, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.08/802,667, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,863, which is a continuation-in-partof application Ser. No. 08/797,420, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,291, filedFeb. 10, 1997. The entire disclosure of each of these applications isincorporated herein by reference, and priority is claimed to the filingdate for the first disclosure of each of these applications, includingFeb. 10, 1997 of application Ser. No. 08/797,420.

The entire disclosure of copending application Ser. No. 10/406,347 isincorporated herein by reference, and priority is claimed to the filingdate of Apr. 2, 2003 for the disclosure.

The entire disclosure of copending application Ser. No. 10/229,428 isincorporated herein by reference. Application Ser. No. 10/229,428 is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 09/335,423, now U.S. Pat. No.7,020,264. The entire disclosure of each of these applications isincorporated herein by reference, and priority is claimed to the filingdate for the first disclosure of each of these applications, includingJun. 17, 1999 of application Ser. No. 09/335,423.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of telephony communication as itpertains to mobile devices or units operating on a private network andpertains more particularly to methods and apparatus for enhancingcommunication capability, data transfer capability, and increasing thenumber of mobile devices that can successfully operate on acommunication-center facilitated virtual private network (VPN).

2. Description of Related Art

The field of telephony communication has grown more diverse andflexible. Call-in centers that once were restricted toconnection-oriented switched telephony (COST) are now employingcomputer-simulated telephony techniques generally referred to as datanetwork telephony (DNT). Call-in centers that are enhanced with DNT andmultimedia capability more appropriately termed communication centers inthe art. This is due to the broad range of telephony and data transfercapabilities that are routinely practiced within or facilitated by suchcenters.

Communication centers are often used by enterprises to accomplishcellular communication links with fleets of vehicles having wirelesscommunication devices installed therein for receiving instruction andresponding back to personnel operating within the center, such asdispatchers, sales agents and so on. There are a variety of existingtechniques used by communication centers today to track, control andsupport fleets of vehicles.

Services such as Omnitracs™ operated by Qualcomm and On-Star™ operatedby General Motors Corp. (GM) use the well-known cellular telephoneinfrastructure and the global positioning system (GPS) to track andsupport vehicles in the field. Services offered include such as air bagdeployment notification, remote door unlocking, road-side service,vehicle theft notification, and so on. In some cases device-equippedvehicles are owned and operated by a single entity that also providesthe service. In some cases vehicles are owned individually, or in smallgroups and are subscribed to a service.

A commonality among all of these types of service communication systemsis that users (i.e. drivers of subscribed vehicles) may need to beperiodically tracked by the system to be given logistics support, helpor advice at some point during a trip. In some cases tracking isemployed for reporting purposes to customers of the service business,such as with some trucking companies and the like. The above-describedsystems target mostly high-end vehicles or commercial fleets as primarytargets, due to the higher value and traffic they incur.

One problem with the infrastructure associated with the above-describedservices is that communication with the volume of serviced cars orcommercial fleet of vehicles is typically implemented by a singlecommunication center. As a result the systems are limited to arelatively small volume vehicles depending on the nature of the service.Such a communication center, as is known in the art, simply cannothandle a really large volume, such as perhaps a million vehicles ormore.

The technologies (GPS and cellular services) that support theabove-described services are continually being developed and madeavailable over ever-increasing geographic regions. Therefore, it isdesirable to provide similar services to a much larger customer basethan the currently limited numbers serviced by today's largestsystem/infrastructures. As previously described, a single communicationscenter cannot handle the desired volume. For example, a service base ofa million users or more would logically encompass mostly “normalcitizens” rather than professional drivers due to shear volume. In thisregard, services offered would have to be more diversified among usersinstead of being standardized as with a fleet of company-owned servicevehicles.

An unacceptable communication load would result in any singlecommunication center. Moreover, other problems would arise from anoverload of users interacting with a center such as increased costs oflong-distance routing, and lack of “local knowledge” required to effectmany desired and marketable services.

What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus that enables efficientdata management and routing of service events to and from a large volumeof tracked vehicles maintaining wireless communication devices, whereinspecific interaction and routing does not have to be performed in orfacilitated by one single communication center. Such a system wouldallow a single service to provide cost-effective, mainstream services tomillions subscribers.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a servicecommunication system for mobile vehicles is provided, comprising acellular telephony interface in individual ones of the mobile vehicles,for establishing telephony events over a cellular network with a basestation; a global positioning system in individual ones of the mobilevehicles for determining global position from transmissions from GPSsatellites; a network of base stations for receiving and broadcasting tothe mobile vehicles, and for bridging events between cellular and publicswitched telephone service (PSTN) protocol; a network-level routingsystem connected by first telephony trunks to the base stations andenabled to retrieve GPS position from the telephony events; and aplurality of service centers connected to the network-level routingsystem by second telephony trunks. The network-level routing systemdetermines a destination for individual ones of the telephony eventsamong the plurality of service centers according to the retrieved GPSposition.

In preferred embodiments the network-level routing system furthercomprises an interactive voice solution (IVS) system for providingsynthesized voice responses to incoming events. Also in preferredembodiments individual ones of the service centers each comprise atelephone switching apparatus connected by a computer telephonyintegration (CTI) link to a CTI processor for monitoring a controllingthe connected telephone switching apparatus, and the network routingcenter comprises a network-level CTI processor connected to anetwork-level switch, and wherein the CTI processors at network andservice center level are interconnected by a data link separate from thesecond telephony trunks. In some embodiments data about a call event isstripped at the network-level routing system and transmitted by the datalink separate from the second telephony trunks to a service center towhich the call event is routed.

In various embodiments of the invention taught in enabling detail below,services for mobile vehicles may for the first time be provided in aspecialized way by having local service centers attuned to the needs ofcertain areas and for special purposes, and by routing service callevents to specialized centers based on mobile vehicle location at thetime service is requested.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of a mobile device communication network as knownto the inventor illustrating typical routing points for a call eventfrom a mobile device to a contact center.

FIG. 2 is an overview of the mobile device communication network of FIG.1 illustrating typical routing points for incoming voice calls into thecontact center of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an overview of the mobile device communication network of FIG.1 illustrating typical routing points for a call event to a car from aPSTN through the contact center of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an overview of a mobile device communication network enhancedwith network data control and routing control according to an embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is an overview of a current-art mobile devicecommunication-network 9 as known to the inventor illustrating typicalrouting points for a call-event from a mobile device to a contactcenter. Communication network 9 comprises a Cell network 13, which is inan area that has by in large also GPS coverage, a connected PSTN network11, and a communication center 15. Cell network 13 represents thewell-known cellular communications networks in an area with thewell-known GPS system. These two technologies including their respectiveinfrastructures are utilized by service communication centers such ascenter 15 to track and provide support to fleets of vehicles having bothGPS devices and wireless communication devices installed therein. Onevehicle of such a fleet of vehicles is represented herein by a car 25illustrated within Cell network 13 and presumably with the GPS coverage.

PSTN network 11 may be another type of telephony network such as aprivate telephone network as may be known in the art. Communicationcenter 15, also referred to as a contact center in the art, representsin this example a national service center that offers support andservice to a fleet of vehicles as was defined in the background section.Center 15 utilizes PSTN network 11 and Cell networks 13 to facilitatecommunication and interaction between center 15 and an equipped vehiclesuch as car 25.

A network bridging (base) station 17 is provided and adapted in thisexample to convert wireless cellular calls into PSTN calls and PSTNcalls into cellular calls. This shall be a grossly simplified view ofelements as are well known in the art of telephony. Further detailswould obfuscate discussing the present invention and have hence beenleft out. Station 17 is equipped with all of the necessary hardware andsoftware to accomplish this task as is known in the art. Station 17 hasa transceiver/receiver device 19 connected thereto and adapted topick-up and transmit cellular transmissions. Cellular communication fromcar 25 to center 15, or from center 15 to car 25 is routed, in thisexample, through the PSTN network 11.

Communication center 15 has installed therein a central telephony switch33, which may be an ACD or PBX type switch. Switch 33 is adapted tofunction as a first destination for inbound call events originating fromsuch as car 25, or from other sources within PSTN 11. Switch 33 is CTI(computer telephony integration) enhanced by a CTI processor 35connected thereto by a CTI link 37. Such enhancement provides status andevent monitoring of the switch, and switch function control, such asintelligent routing control. For example, switch 33 functions in thisembodiment as a private service control point (SCP) with agent/systemlevel routing intelligence for routing to various points within center15.

A modem pool 41 is provided and adapted to strip data from inbound andoutbound call events processed at center 15. Modem pool 41 is connectedto switch 33 by an internal telephony trunk 55, and to an internal,interconnecting local area network (LAN) 49, which interconnects severalinternal elements as described below, including the CTO processor 35.Modem pool 41 represents a second “data” routing point withincommunication center 15.

An interactive voice solution (IVS) machine 43 is provided and adaptedto interact with customer's calls and contacts, and to process certainaspects of data in incoming calls to synthesized voice, which may go toan agent or back to a subscriber's vehicle. IVS 43 connects on LAN 49.In this way IVS 43 is controlled to respond to call events according toevent protocols.

A front-end communication-center server (CCS FE) 45 is provided andadapted to process workflow for incoming non-real-time events. Server 45is connected to CTI processor on LAN 49 and is controlled by processor35. A back-end communication-center server (CCS BE) 47 is provided andadapted to process workflow for non-real-time outgoing events. Server 47is connected to server 45 and also to IVS 43 on LAN 49.

An agent's telephone 50 is provided at an agent station and adapted toenable live voice communication between such as car 25 and an agentoperating within center 15. Telephone 50 is connected to switch 35 byinternal telephone wiring 51. In other embodiments, an IP phone may beused connected to a LAN (e.g. LAN 49). A communication queue 39 isprovided in switch 33 for incoming call events that are waiting forpickup by an available agent such as one operating telephone 50. It willbe apparent to one with skill in the art that in a service communicationcenter such as center 15, there will be many more agents' telephonesthan the one telephone 50 illustrated herein. Moreover, agents may alsobe operating local area network (LAN) connected terminals at the agentstations, such as terminal 52 shown, having graphical user interfaces(GUI) along with processing and data input capabilities. Such terminalsmay be personal computers (PCs) or other adapted machines.

It is noted here that the equipment and connections illustrated withincommunication center 15 in this embodiment represent such as apparatusconnection and control schemes known to the inventor and is not yetwidely available in the art to be termed prior art. It will be apparentto the skilled artisan that there are alternative architectures thatmight be used for the interconnection of operational elements in thecommunication center.

As described in the background section, large commercial fleets, such astrucking fleets, as well as private subscribers operating privatevehicles are facilitated in terms of GPS tracking and cellular supportby a single national communication center. Such is the case representedhere. Because of this only a limited number of vehicles, perhaps up to afew thousands, may be adequately serviced without severely straining theresources of a national center such as center 15. Moreover, routingwithin a center such as center 15 may be somewhat complicated dependingon the nature of events and services offered.

In this example a typical routing path is illustrated for a call eventarriving to center 15 from car 25. Such a call event may be anautomatically triggered data request, a voice/data request, or a voicecall. It is important to note here that the modem communication betweensuch as modem pool 41 and a modem installed in car 25 follows such asAnalog Display Services Interface (ADSI) protocols or equivalents.Hence, the connection has two states; one being a voice connection andthe other being a data connection using an A/B toggle switch at eachmodem with control afforded to communication center 15.

An inbound event is broadcast from car 25, received byreceiver/transceiver 19 and transmitted to station 17 where it isconverted to a PSTN call. Typically, because of the nature of thesubscription service, being highly dependent in many instances on thelocation of the vehicle originating an event, data regarding globalpositioning is sent with the call event. This data is available to thesystem in the vehicle by GPS interface which operates, as is known inthe art, by monitoring transmission from multiple satellites,represented here by satellites 23 and 24, and triangulationcalculations. In some cases, because, for example, a vehicle havinginitiated an event continues to move, the position has to be updated,which may be done periodically as a function of the vehicle system, ormay be triggered from a remote station. In any event, the GPS positioninformation is transmitted via the cell network.

Once on PSTN 11, the event is routed to switch 29. The event is thenswitched to central switch 33 at the communication center at a firstagent-level routing point I over telephony trunk 31. Routing point I isa private SCP equivalent implemented at center 15. Once the eventreaches routing point I, the nature of the event is determined(ANI/DNIS). In this example, we assume the event is a data callrequiring a non-real-time or automated response, and the GPS arriveswith the call event. Call nature determination and further routing iscontrolled by CTI processor 35 running CTI software adapted for thepurpose. It is important to note here that every inbound event is routedto a routing point II (modem pool 41) over trunk 55. Routing point II,which is at modem pool 41, strips the data from the event, including theGPS location of car 25 at the time of event initiation.

Also, certain data about the call may be passed to CustomerClient-Server workflow engine Front End (CCS FE) server 45 over LAN 49for front-end processing. Data about the event passes from server 45 toCustomer Client-Server workflow engine Back End (CCS BE) server 47 forback-end processing. Processed data, which reflects the commanddisposition of the event, passes from server 47 into IVS 43 forprocessing, if required, into synthesized voice instruction, which willbecome part of an outbound event. The Voice package necessitated ispassed to modem pool 41 and an outbound event is created and forwardedto a routing point III. Hence, an outbound call event representing asynthesized voice response to the original request is routed back overtrunk 31 into switch 29 in PSTN 11. The response event is then routed tostation 17 over line 27 where it is converted back to a cellularprotocol and broadcast by transceiver/receiver 19 to car 25 where amotorist receives it.

Returning to routing point III, if the original event required orrequested a live agent communication, the caller would either beconnected to an available agent at, for example, telephone 50, or, ifnone were available, be placed in queue 39. An agent at telephone 50will typically have access as well to a computer station 52 having avideo display unit (PC/VDU), and the system may provide display for theagent related to telephony events. However, the voice aspect of a liveevent is not connected until all data is stripped and processed.Communication center 15, through server 35, controls the voice/dataaspect of each event.

Because communication center 15 in this example is a national centerhandling all subscribing vehicles nation wide, events may have to berouted over long distances through PSTN 11 to a local cell network.Another issue is that one national center such as center 15 may not beup to date on recent local changes transpiring in the vicinity of car25. For example, if the original request was for a list of local motelvacancies in the immediate area of car 25, center 15 may not have therecent listings or information on any new locations just opened forbusiness. If, for example, the original request was for an emergencytowing service, a national center may not know that car 25 is only a fewmiles from a recently opened service and may recommend a more distantprovider causing added expense for the motorist.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that a communicationnetwork, wherein a single national center must facilitate communicationwith a nationally spread-out fleet of vehicles, will have substantiallimitations with respect to providing accurate knowledge of localresources and with providing routing of events over long distance wirednetworks.

FIG. 2 is an overview of the mobile device communication network 9 ofFIG. 1 as known to the inventor illustrating typical routing points foran incoming voice call into the contact center of FIG. 1. As theelements involved in this embodiment are analogous to those described inFIG. 1, reintroduction of such elements will not be made.

In this embodiment, we assume that car 25 places a live voice call foran agent at communication center 15. A voice call is initiated from car25 using the voice mode on the associated modem. Initial call routing isanalogous to FIG. 1. For example, transceiver/receiver 19 picks up theevent and passes it into station 17 where it is converted to a PSTNcall. The event is then routed over trunk 27 to switch 29 in network 11.Techniques typically using ANI/DNIS cause routing of the event overtrunk 31 to switch 33 (SCP). At this point the voice nature of the callis determined, and the call is routed first to an available agent as aPSTN-connected call. Notification is given by the agent to the vehicleoperator that he or she requires data communications with the vehicleand will be placed on hold for reconnection. This may be accomplished bya voice-synthesized message.

The event is then routed to routing point II (modem pool 41) and theagent operating telephone 50 is placed on hold. This process must beperformed so that any data associated with the live call request may bestripped by modem pool 41 and processed, including obtaining a read oncar location per the GPS system if necessary. Once the data is processedby servers 45 and 47 as described above with reference to FIG. 1, theagent at telephone 50 is reconnected to the caller in voice mode. If theagent becomes unavailable while data is being processed, then theinbound call event may be routed to queue 39 to wait for reconnection toa different agent.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that internal routingwherein the modem at communication center 15 must be re-linked back intothe call flow in order to complete a voice call is rather complicatedand uses significant resources. The modem at communication center 15must issue a dual-tone-multiple-frequency (DTMF) or other suitablenon-DTMF tone to switch the connection-state from voice to data and thenback to voice as is known in the art with ADSI type modem-interfaces.Moreover, as communication network 9 is identical to the one describedin FIG. 1, the same limitations apply that were described in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an overview of the mobile device communication network 9 ofFIG. 1 illustrating typical routing points for a call event to a carfrom a PSTN from the contact center of FIG. 1. In this example as in theexample of FIG. 2, elements of communication network 9 remain the sameas previous embodiments and therefore, will not be reintroduced. Theexample provided herein represents the routing path associated with aPSTN call to car 25 in Cell network 13.

A call event represented by a vector 30 arrives at switch 29 in PSTN 11.ANI and DNIS information indicates that the event is destined tocommunication center 15. It is assumed that in this embodiment center15, which is a national center, must facilitate the call. This istypical of services of the type described in the background section.

Event 30 is routed from switch 29 over trunk 31 to switch 33 atcommunication center 15. Because it is a conventional PSTN call, it maybe routed directly to an agent (routing point II) such as one operatingtelephone 50. The agent operating telephone 50 may further direct thecall based on information supplied by the caller such as caridentification number. In some cases a car identification number may bepart of the call identification data. Based on the call data and agentinput data, event 30 is routed back to switch 33 as an outbound call tocar 25. This employs the workflow process represented by servers 45 and47 along with IVS 43 which instructs modem pool 41 to dial car 25.Therefore, a third routing point is at switch 33, which represents anoutbound call in progress. The agent operating telephone 50 may or maynot stay with the caller during this process. The outbound call isrouted back through PSTN 11, through bridging station 17 and onto car 25through Cell network 13. When the motorist operating car 25 picks up; heis connected to the waiting PSTN event.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that limitations existwith respect to communication network 9 described in FIGS. 1-3 includingrouting complexity, long distance costs, lack of local knowledge to aidmotorists, and so on.

The above FIGS. 1-3 describe a current-art communication network thatuses the GPS system and the cellular network along with the PSTN toenable national centers such as center 15 to communicate with motoristsand on-board systems that may be associated with a subscribed car suchas car 25.

A communication network such as network 9 may utilize a virtual privatenetwork (VPN) comprising multiple wireless carriers and land networks asis known in the art. Therefore, networks 13 and 11 may be assumed torepresent multiple wireless and land-line networks spread over largegeographic areas. Even with VPN access, which limits some long distancecharges, routing to one national center such as center 15 is stillcomplicated.

FIG. 4 is an overview of a mobile device communication network 61enhanced with network data control and routing control system 63according to an embodiment of the present invention. New elements areintroduced in this preferred embodiment. Such elements provideenhancement to overall performance and efficiency for the entire system.

In this example, instead of utilizing one single, national communicationcenter to facilitate communication as is illustrated in current-artexamples with reference to FIGS. 1-3, the inventor illustrates a uniqueand novel network system 61, which uses multiple, distributedcommunication-centers, illustrated herein as centers 71 and 73, andplaces data control and voice/data switching capability at the networklevel, illustrated by a VID packet 63. For clarity, not all the elementsexplained before are shown in the drawing but may or may not be presentin each one of the centers.

Communication center 71 comprises a central switch 75, a modem pool 77,a CTI processor 81, a representative telephone 83, and a representativePC/VDU 84. The separate elements are connected through a LAN 86, and atrunk 79 connects switch 75 to modem pool 77. IVS and CCSimplementations as shown in communication center 15 of FIGS. 1-3 may beassumed to be present, but are not shown. Communication center 73 is inthis embodiment is identical to center 71, comprising a central switch89, a modem pool 91, a CTI processor 95, a representative telephone 97,a representative PC/VDU 97, a LAN 100, and a trunk 93. In center 71,switch 75 is connected to CTI processor 81 by a CTI link 87. Modem pool77 is connected to switch 75 by internal telephone wiring 79. Telephone83 is connected to switch 75 by internal telephone wiring 85. In center73, switch 89 is connected to CTI processor 95 by a CTI link 101. Modempool 91 is connected to switch 89 by internal telephone wiring 93.Telephone 97 is connected to switch 89 by internal wiring 99.

Centers 71 and 73 represent local distributed communication servicecenters provided by an enterprise hosting a mainstream service andtherefore may be significantly smaller in size (number of agents,modems, workstations, etc.) than one large national center. An object ofthe present invention is to provide distributed centers such as centers71 and 73 to allow for a much higher service capability (number ofvehicles) than is possible with current art systems.

VID packet 63 is provided and operates at PSTN network level. Packet 63is in this example is an equipment grouping that handles GPS, voice/dataswitching, and workflow processing activity, which was in previousexamples provided within a national communication center such as center15 of FIGS. 1-3. Packet 63 comprises a modem pool 65, an IVS machine 67,and a CTI processor 69. CTI processor 69 is connected to switch 29 by aCTI link 68. This connection provides CTI monitoring and control overswitch 29 such that it may be used in many enhanced ways, including as aprivate SCP. By placing VID packet 63 in the network, GPS location datamay be utilized at the network level instead of from within acommunication center. Voice and data switching and interactivevoice/data control is also performed at network level by modem pool 65and associated IVS 67.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an inbound callevent from car 25 is received at a local bridging station such asstation 17 by way of transceiver/receiver 19 and is converted to a PSTNcall event as was described in previous examples. It is assumed for thisexample that the incoming call event includes data for GPS position. Insome embodiments there may be a function for updating position byautomatic pinging back through the system to the vehicle. The call eventarrives at switch 29 over trunk 27 also as previously described. Herethe similarity ends with respect to previously described routing meansand data handling.

Data from such a call event is passed over data-network connection 68 toprocessor 69 in VID packet 63. The call event is routed to modem pool 65over trunk 66. Modem pool 65 represents a routing point I, which is apre-center routing point. GPS location data associated with car 25 isaccessed by modem pool 65. Data about the call event is stripped bymodem pool 65 and processed by IVS 67. By utilizing VID capability atthe network level, now the inbound call event from car 25 may be routedto either center 71 or center 73 (or another call center) whichever ismore appropriate. In many cases the appropriate center will be theclosest center to car 25, and the GPS data may be used to make therouting decision. An event such as an inbound event sourced from car 25arrives at either center 71 or 73 by way of telephony trunk 72 out ofmodem pool 65 in the network. Other items may be used in considering therouting, as are well known in agent skill level routing, customerrequirement routing etc.

Routing points II illustrated at switch 75 (center 71) and switch 89(center 73) are optional routing points depending on which center willbe designated to receive the inbound event. Data about the inbound eventis passed to the appropriate communication center over a separate datanetwork represented by path 70 connecting processors 69, 81 and 95.Processors 81 and 95 control further routing, at centers 71 and 73,respectively.

Now GPS location is available as a determinant in routing to variouscall centers. This position information has other novel uses as well.Data processing and voice/data switching is performed at network levelaccording to CTI routines for inbound events. Therefore, the ratio ofmodems to agents at each center may be significantly reduced. Callevents arriving from anywhere in PSTN 11 may also he handled at networklevel. Modem pools 71 and 73 handle outbound traffic in normal fashionas well as providing voice/data switching.

The method and apparatus of the present invention may be integrated intoexisting VPN networks without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. In this way, multiple wireless carriers as well asland connections may be utilized in routing. Inbound events are routedintelligently by virtue of processors 69 (network), 81 (center 71), 95(center 73), utilizing a separate data network illustrated by networkconnections 68 and 70. As a result, inbound routing decisions may bebased on a variety of criteria such as load balancing requirements,statistical routing, routing according to least expensive path, routingaccording to defined service, routing by agent skill, and so on.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a wide area network such asthe Internet packet-data network may be utilized and integrated as adata/voice carrier. For example, an Internet-based service may beavailable for owners of subscribed vehicles to plan such as vacationtrips or the like. Such data may be configured and uploaded to anInternet server and tagged to a particular vehicle. At the time of thetrip the plans can be included in a series of inbound data calls to suchas car 25 from the Internet. Of course, the appropriate DNT/PSTN bridgeis required in order to interface switch 29 with the source data events.

GPS may also be used to trigger portions of a trip plan to be broadcastto car 25. For example, car 25 reaches a certain point (GPS location,latitude or longitude as more broad lines along the planned trip route).Periodic pinging of the GPS system may be used to approximate thecorrect location of car 25 along a route. When such location dataclosely matches data included in the trip plan, an automated data callfrom the Internet carrying the appropriate data for the matchinglocation would be processed as an inbound call event to the appropriatecommunication center. That center could then generate an outbound datacall to car 25 that may include locations and directions for localmotels, restaurants, banks, supermarkets, camp sites, and so on. Thereare many possibilities. Businesses and service providers such as autotowing, truck stops, rest areas, and the like may advertise to customersthrough local centers.

In some cases, the location of a requested service may effectnetwork-level routing of an inbound call request. For example, if duringtravel, a subscriber such as one driving car 25 requests knowledge of anearest hospital that provides emergency services, then a network-levelSCP may, after pinging for GPS position, route the event to a localcommunication center known to have knowledge of a name, location anddirections to a nearest hospital that matches the request. Such datawould, of course, have to be known at network level such as by aconnected data repository adapted for the purpose.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that acommunication/service network such as network 61 can provide service tomore vehicles by virtue of utilizing multiple communication centers thancan be handled by a single communication center. It will also beapparent to one with skill in the art that such multiple centers asdescribed above can provide more specific and updated information byvirtue of being in close vicinity to the services requested, and localcenters may be specialized to local services, and so on.

The methods and apparatus of the present invention may be practiced overstandard Cell/PSTN networks or may be integrated into a VPN comprisingmultiple carriers. Likewise integration into such as the Internet orother WAN or G3-type digital networks is possible. Therefore, the methodand apparatus of the present invention should be afforded the broadestscope. The method and apparatus of the present invention is limited onlyby the claims that follow.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A communication transaction router,comprising: a port receiving communication transactions from mobileunits, the transactions including information regarding position of themobile units initiating the transactions; one or more ports to a networkfor routing transactions to individual ones of a plurality of servicecenters; and an information repository storing information regardingindividual ones of the plurality of service centers, the informationaccessible to the transaction router; wherein the information regardingposition of the mobile units and the information regarding individualones of the plurality of service centers is accessed and used by therouting intelligence in routing transactions.
 2. The transaction routerof claim 1 wherein the communication transactions from mobile units aretelephone transactions.
 3. The transaction router of claim 1 wherein theinformation regarding position of the mobile units is Global PositioningSystem (GPS) position indication appended to the transactions.
 4. Thetransaction router of claim 1 wherein the information regardingindividual ones of the plurality of service centers includes globalposition of the service centers, and the information regarding positionof the mobile units is global position of the mobile units, andtransactions are routed according to proximity of the mobile units toservice centers.
 5. The transaction router of claim 1 wherein the portsto a network for routing transactions connect to a packet-switchednetwork.
 6. The transaction router of claim 1 wherein the ports to anetwork for routing transactions connect to a line-switched network. 7.The transaction router of claim 1 further comprising a facility forinteracting with a caller to determine a purpose for the call, whereinthe purpose determined and the position are both used to route the callto an individual one of the plurality of service centers.
 8. Acommunication transaction router, comprising: a port for receivingcommunication transactions from mobile units, the transactions includinginformation regarding position of the mobile units; one or more ports toa network for routing transactions to individual ones of a plurality ofservice centers; and an information repository storing informationregarding individual ones of the plurality of service centers, whereinthe information regarding the position of the mobile units and theinformation regarding the individual ones of the plurality of servicecenters is accessed and used in routing transactions.
 9. A routingsystem, comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory storesinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: receive transactions from a mobile unit, the transactions comprisingposition information of the mobile unit; store information regarding aplurality of service centers; and determine a destination for thetransactions from among the plurality of service centers based on theposition information and the information regarding the plurality ofservice centers.
 10. The routing system of claim 9, wherein thetransactions are telephone transactions.
 11. The routing system of claim9, wherein the position information comprises Global Positioning System(GPS) information of the mobile unit.
 12. The routing system of claim 9,wherein the information regarding the plurality of service centerscomprises a global position of each of the service centers and theposition information comprises a global position of the mobile unit, andwherein the destination for the transactions is determined according toproximity of the mobile unit to a respective one of the service centers.13. The routing system of claim 9, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the processor to access information regarding apurpose of an individual transaction, and wherein the destination forthe individual transaction is determined based on the positioninformation and the information regarding the purpose of thetransaction.
 14. A method for routing transactions, the methodcomprising: receiving, by one or more processors, transactions from amobile unit, the transactions comprising position information of themobile unit; storing, by the one or more processors, informationregarding a plurality of service centers; and determining, by the one ormore processors, a destination for the transactions from among theplurality of service centers based on the position information and theinformation regarding the plurality of service centers.
 15. The methodof claim 14, wherein the transactions are telephone transactions. 16.The method of claim 14, wherein the position information comprisesGlobal Positioning System (GPS) information of the mobile unit.
 17. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the information regarding the plurality ofservice centers comprises a global position of each of the servicecenters and the position information comprises a global position of themobile unit, and wherein the destination for the transactions isdetermined according to proximity of the mobile unit to a respective oneof the service centers.
 18. The method of claim 14, further comprisingaccessing information regarding a purpose of an individual transaction,and determining the destination for the individual transaction based onthe position information and the information regarding the purpose ofthe transaction.